The Mint was a district in
Southwark
Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...
, south London, England, on the west side of
Borough High Street
Borough High Street is a road in Southwark, London, running south-west from London Bridge, forming part of the A3 route which runs from London to Portsmouth, on the south coast of England.
Overview
Borough High Street continues southwest a ...
, around where
Marshalsea Road
Marshalsea Road (classified A3201) is a major street in Southwark, south London, England. At the northwest end is the Southwark Bridge Road. At the southeast end is Borough tube station on Borough High Street. Continuing across the street are ...
is now located. It was so named because a
mint
MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaA ...
authorised by
King Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...
was set up in
Suffolk Place
Suffolk Place (or Suffolk House) was a mansion house located on the west side of Borough High Street in Southwark, Surrey, on the south bank of the River Thames opposite the City of London. It was the London town house of the Dukes of Suffolk, ...
, a mansion house, in about 1543. The mint ceased to operate in the reign of
Mary I
Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...
and Suffolk Place was demolished in 1557. In the late-17th and early-18th centuries, the area was known for offering protection against prosecution for debtors due to its legal status as a "
liberty
Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom.
In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
", or a jurisdictional interzone.
History
In 1550, the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
acquired two
manors from
Edward VI
Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...
's government. They comprised the former holding of
Bermondsey Abbey
Bermondsey Abbey was an English Benedictine monastery. Most widely known as being founded in the 11th century, it had a precursor mentioned in the early eighth century, and was centred on what is now Bermondsey Square, the site of Bermonds ...
on the west side of
Borough High Street
Borough High Street is a road in Southwark, London, running south-west from London Bridge, forming part of the A3 route which runs from London to Portsmouth, on the south coast of England.
Overview
Borough High Street continues southwest a ...
(see also
King's Manor, Southwark) and that of the
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
on the east side . The charter retained the mansion and grounds of the
Duke of Suffolk
Duke of Suffolk is a title that has been created three times in the peerage of England.
The dukedom was first created for William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, William de la Pole, who had already been elevated to the ranks of earl and marquess ...
, known as Suffolk Place and Southwark Place that had been assigned to Edward's mother by Henry VIII. On the accession of
Mary I
Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...
she assigned it to the Archbishop of York for his London palace, and that diocese began to lease the estate for development, mainly of the highest density and poorest quality; the area became a
rookery
A rookery is a colony of breeding animals, generally gregarious birds.
Coming from the nesting habits of rooks, the term is used for corvids and the breeding grounds of colony-forming seabirds, marine mammals (true seals and sea lions), and ev ...
of slums. The 1550 charter's exemption from the city's control of the neighbouring manor created a separate jurisdiction, the ''Liberty of the Mint''. "The Mint" therefore, became an
Alsatia
Whitefriars is an area in the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London.
Until 1540, it was the site of a Carmelite monastery, from which it gets its name.
History
The area takes its name from the medieval Carmelite religious house, know ...
(so called after the area of
Whitefriars), a haunt of criminals and fugitives.
![Southwark Civil Parish Map 1870](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Southwark_Civil_Parish_Map_1870.png)
Such anomalous districts attracted particular denizens, and the Mint's primary population was debtors. Those in danger of being thrown into
debtors' prison
A debtors' prison is a prison for people who are unable to pay debt. Until the mid-19th century, debtors' prisons (usually similar in form to locked workhouses) were a common way to deal with unpaid debt in Western Europe.Cory, Lucinda"A Historic ...
could hide in the Mint. Once there, debtors risked arrest if they were found outside of its boundary. Debt collectors (known as "duns") stood along the main roads out of the Mint to wait for suspected debtors. Sometimes they were bill collectors in the modern sense, and sometimes thugs who beat and seized the debtor. Inside the Mint, life was hard. Since debtors could not leave (except on Sunday, when no debts could be collected), they could not find employment to raise money to pay off their debts. Those who attempted to leave on Sundays to get money from friends or lenders were called "Sunday gentlemen", as they attempted to appear prosperous to hoodwink lenders.
Debtors who went to the Mint frequently died of malnutrition or were murdered before raising enough money to escape. The Mint's geography was a factor in its poor living standard, as it was below the river's level and was a breeding ground for sewage- and water-borne maladies.
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...
describes life there for his heroine
Moll Flanders
''Moll Flanders'' is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1722. It purports to be the true account of the life of the eponymous Moll, detailing her exploits from birth until old age.
By 1721, Defoe had become a recognised novelist, wit ...
in the novel of the same name.
In 1723, the Mint lost its protected status as a result of
The Mint in Southwark Act 1722
The Mint in Southwark Act 1722 is an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of Great Britain (statute number ''9 Geo. I c. 28''). It was passed to remove certain legal privileges of Liberty of the Mint, The Mint, a location in Southwark which had ...
and at the same time, imprisonment for debts of less than £50 was abolished, and many residents left without fear of arrest. The area was a slum into the 19th century. By that time, its reputation as a haunt for the poorest of the poor ensured that it had a lower standard of living than the rest of London. Elsewhere in 19th century London new roads were laid through slum areas to eliminate them, but
Southwark Bridge Road
Southwark Bridge Road is a road in Southwark, London, England, between Newington Causeway near Elephant and Castle and Southwark Bridge across the River Thames, leading to the City of London, in a meandering route.
The road was created by con ...
, constructed in 1819 to
Southwark Bridge
Southwark Bridge ( ) is an arch bridge in London, for traffic linking the district of Southwark and the City across the River Thames. Besides when others are closed for temporary repairs, it has the least traffic of the Thames bridges in Londo ...
, swerved around the western side of the Mint.
In the later 19th century its reputation as one of London's worst rookeries was sustained when conditions there were exposed by the Rev
Andrew Mearns in ''The Bitter Cry of Outcast London'' (1883) and by
George R. Sims
George Robert Sims (2 September 1847 – 4 September 1922) was an English journalist, poet, dramatist, novelist and ''bon vivant''.
Sims began writing lively humour and satiric pieces for ''Fun'' magazine and ''The Referee'', but he was soon co ...
in ''How the Poor Live'' (1883). The scandal created by Mearns' and Sims' revelations prompted a
Royal Commission in 1884–1885 but the destruction of the Mint was underway. From 1881 to 1886, associated with the construction of
Marshalsea Road
Marshalsea Road (classified A3201) is a major street in Southwark, south London, England. At the northwest end is the Southwark Bridge Road. At the southeast end is Borough tube station on Borough High Street. Continuing across the street are ...
, the area was cleared of most of its slums, although even in 1899 some remnants of the rookery were still in place between
Red Cross Street and Borough High Street.
[Jerry White (2007), ''London in the Nineteenth Century'', 9–10, 58–60.]
The Mint is referred to by most 18th-century British
satirists, including
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...
in his ''Epistle to Dr
Arbuthnot'' and, indirectly, by
John Gay
John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for ''The Beggar's Opera'' (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peac ...
in ''
Trivia
Trivia is information and data that are considered to be of little value. It can be contrasted with general knowledge and common sense.
Latin Etymology
The ancient Romans used the word ''triviae'' to describe where one road split or forked ...
''. It is the refuge of the outlaw
Jack Sheppard
Jack Sheppard (4 March 1702 – 16 November 1724), or "Honest Jack", was a notorious English thief and prison escapee of early 18th-century London.
Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter but took to theft and burglary in ...
in
William Harrison Ainsworth
William Harrison Ainsworth (4 February 18053 January 1882) was an English historical novelist born at King Street in Manchester. He trained as a lawyer, but the legal profession held no attraction for him. While completing his legal studies in ...
's novel
''Jack Sheppard'' (1839) and in the novel
''The System of the World'' by
Neal Stephenson
Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, postcyberpunk, and baroque.
Stephenson's work exp ...
.
The only remnant of the Mint is a street in the location named ''Mint Street''.
See also
* The
Marshalsea
The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners, including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition, it became known, in ...
, a debtors' prison close to the Mint to the east.
References
External links
An essay on Southwark
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mint, The
Former slums of London
Geography of the London Borough of Southwark
History of the London Borough of Southwark
Liberties of London
Mints of the United Kingdom
Poverty in England